The Cecil Whig., 1887-10-29

- ne A.neilGln shook ms head.
"'Sev-u hunircA-eiahr hundred"
ma"
"'Nine hu"drcd three Thousand
francs, That is my last offer Pause. |
beg of yon, monsieur, before you refuse
it. 1t Is large sam-three Thousand
francs, and, Is if be were convinced
that no one could refuse such price, he
put the stone once more among his oa,n
treasures and agiia turned round for his
check book
"'fhundel" exclaimed the Yankee:
what DO you take me iol? tell you
ctu't and wont sell YOU tie riug. 1t
was good Is soIu To- tins British gen
t"man last night, and it ism t mlme to sell
any more. Give me the ring.
$50 slyinr the American took the
ring rather sharply from the jewellers
hand and replaced it on his finger. The
Frcnchman next ma lie me All offer for
the trlnket; but as had not bought il
for myself, of course | could not sell it,
n we left the siop.
'My mind was clear now rs to the
prudence of giving eighty pounds for the
diamond. had heard the best jeweller
i'll the town offer three thousand francs,
OF a hundred and twenty pounds, for it.
well, | must say you haze acted
most honorably, said to the American
when We reached the street. After all,
| a bargain can't be all on one side, and
had never promised to buy the ring, SO
| you had a perfect legal right to sell it to
the Frenchman.'
'''1 on needG t say no more, stranger,
said the Yankee, as if he were tired of
the subject. You can hev the stone
now, if you choose, at the price We Fixed
on last night, aud he held the ring out
| to me.
But had to get my letters of credit
cashcd, and agreed to meet the Ameri
can in the billiard room i'll an hours time
and conclude the transaction.
NO one was i'll the billiard room when
| entered it (for it WAS still early in the
day except the American, who was
standing by the empty fireplace. The
transfer did not occupy more than five
seconds, and the Yankee Immediately
proposed drinks. These being discussed,
we separated, and | saw no more of my
friend from the States that day.
That evening after dinner happened
to he sitting noC far from the fireplace in
the billiard-room, when noticed a small
round object lying just inside the marble
fender. Curious to know what it was,
left my seat and picked it up. 1t was a
jewellers ring casc-not an uncommon
article, certainly, yet hardly the sort of
thing one often sees on the floor of a
billiard room.
"Suddenly | remem bered that the
American mad been standing close to the
spot where | found it when, earlier in
the day, bad exchanged my two thous-
and francs worth Of notes for his dia
moLd. An uncomfortable feeling crossed
my mind. What did lie want with a
ring case? He had been wearing the ring
he sold to me. He might have kept a
case for it, Of course, and might have
thrown 1t away when he parted with the
ring; Yet that seemed an unusual sort OF
a thing for man to DO.
Il opened the case. The makers
name was inscribed in gilt letters inside
the lid, and the address given was Paris
Paris said to myself
He said the ling had been bought il
Brazil. There was 80 real ground ion
suspicion, Yet was uneasy. / went up
stairs and took out the ring. The pat
terr-you see it is a peculiar one-I re.
membcrad well. somehow | judged, OF
fancied that the diamond lId not shine
as brightly as it had done the night before
Next morning | took the ring to Z
second jowelIer and asked him his opinion
as to Its value. lie examined the dia,
mond carefully aud laid it down on the
glass case before him with one contempt.
uous word
Paste"
"'PAste.' | echoed Impossble.
Certainly paste, and a very good mi,
tatior, he replied, turning away.
"My heart sank within me. f ghty
pounds was a sum could i'll afford tC
lose. Ii meant summary end to my
holidays not to speak OF embarlassments
that would last some time.
with 4 faint hope that the second ex
pert had been mistaken, | took the ring
to the jawelier who had offered the
American three Thousand francs fer it.
He seemed pleased to see me, but as
soon as he had glanced at the ring Lis
face changed.
"'Ihis is not the same ring you showed
me yesterday he said in tone tha;
made it plain that he thought meant to
cheat hlm. AT least, he added, it is
not the same stone. This is not stone
at all; it is paste
"'So have been told, sand sadly.
Are you sure the jewel l showed you
yesterday was a genuine diamond?'
81 am certain of it. he answered.
The honorable conduct CAS- had
thought iD of the stranger in refusing to
sell to the jeweller was now iutelligible.
The je"ei!cr meant to keep the real
stone. Ii w-.s not difficult 10 sec how
the fraud had been managed The
swindler Aaa had two rings made exactly
alike of striking and peculiar pattern
In one OF them he had placed a genuine
aud very tiue diamond. This WAS the
decoy. In tho other he had put false
diamond, closely resembling in size and
shape the genuine one in the first ring.
| The one he wore and offered to sell was
the true stone. When he got it back
from the jawcllcr he had kept 1t and had
| given mo the sham one in exchange for
my eighty pounds. What was l to DO?
"Fhe first thing was to ascertain
whether my friend had left the hotel,
OF course he had-on the afternoon of
the previoas DAY; still. the scent was SO
| hot, tar cied should have httle diff
Guilty i'll tracing him. But when | found
him my difficulties would only begin. OF
course la would swear that he had sold
me the ring with the stone which the
jeweller had declared to be genuine /
might, conccivahly have substituted
paste fof the true gem as well as he. In
| any ease WGeu Ihaught of the d d1ifirulty